/<0/ 



F 813 
.C3 U6 
Copy 1 



' ^ DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY. 



GENERAL INFORMATION 

REGARDING 

CASA GRANDE RUIN, ARIZONA." 



GENERAL STATEMENT. 

The ruin known by the Spanish name Casa Grande, " Great House," 
is situated near the left bank of the Gila River about 12 miles from 

I the site of the present town of Florence, Ariz. It can be conveniently 
reached by carriage either from the town of Florence or from Casa 
Grande station on the Southern Pacific Railroad. The route to the 
ruin via Florence is sliii'htly shorter than that from Casa Grande 
station, enabling one to make the visit and return in a single day. 
There are a hotel and livery stables in both towns, but the visitor 

[should provide for his own refreshment at the ruin. The address of 

[the custodian is Florence, Ariz. 

This reservation was set aside bv Executive order dated June 22, 

11892, under the act approved March 2. 1889 (25 Stat., 961). By 
presidential proclamation of December 10. 1909, the boundaries of 
the reservation were changed by the elimination of 120 acres on 

[which there were no prehistoric ruins and the inclusion of a tract of 
120 acres adjoining the reservation on the east, on which are located 

[important mounds of historic and scientific interest. 

HISTORY. 

The first known white man to visit Casa Grande was the intrepid 
Jesuit Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, or Kuehne. the pioneer mis- 
sionary among the Opata. Pima, Papago, and Sobaipuri Indians 
from 1687 until his death in ITll. In 1694 Lieut. Juan Mateo 
Mange, nephew of Don Domingo Jironza Petriz de Cruzate, the 
newly appointed governor of Sonora, Avas commissioned to escort 

1 This circular is an abstract of a detailed report bv J. W. Fewkes, published in the 
Twenty-eighth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnolosv. This report may 
be consulted at the principal libraries or may be purchased from the Superintendent of 
Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C, for $1.25. 

65322°— 16 1 



CASA GEANDE EUIN, ARIZONA. 



.d^Ufe 



the missionaries on their perilous journeys among the strange and 
sometimes hostile tribes of the region. In June of that year, while 
making a reconnoissance toward the northeast from Kino's mission 
of Dolores on the western branch of the Rio Sonora, Mange heard 
from the Indians of some casas grandes^ massive and very high, on 
the margin of a river which flowed toward the west. The news was 
communicated to Kino and shortly afterwards was confirmed by some 

y///////////. Reservaf/on boundary 



i 



i CASA 

I 



i 



RU 

Seo, 






GRANDE I 

I 



IN 

i6 






RESERVATION 



m^////////////////^^^^^^ 



Casa Grande Ruin Reservation, Ariz., embracing the NW. J, the NE. \, the N. \ of the 
SW. J, and the N. \ of the SE. \ of sec. 16, T. 5 S., R. 8 E., Gila and Salt River 
meridian ; set aside by executive order of June 22, 1892, under act of March 2, 1889, 

Indians who visited Dolores from San Xavier del Bac, on the Rio 
Santa Cruz below the Indian village of Tucson. In November, 
1694, Kino went from his mission on a tour of discovery, finding 
Casa Grande to be as reported, and saying mass within its walls.^ 
The house Avas described as large and ancient and certainly four 
stories high. In the immediate vicinity were to be seen the ruins 
of other houses, and in the country toward the north, east, and west 

1 Mange in Doc. His. Mex., 4th ser., I, 250, 259, Mexico, 1856. 



D.. o3P D, 
SEP- -24 1917 



CASA GRANDE RUIN, ARIZONA. 3 

were ruins of similar structures. Kino believed that Casa Grande 
was the ruin (Chichilticalli) spoken of in 1539 by Fray Marcos de 
Niza/ whose journey was followed in the next year by Coronado's 
famous expedition. Ortega, Kino's biographer, speaks of the ancient 
traditions of the Mexicans (Aztec), favorably received by all the 
historians of New Spain, that this Gila locality, as well as the Casas 
Grandes of Chihuahua, was one of the stopping places on their 
migration southward to the Valley of Mexico. This belief was preva- 
lent during the period, and Casa Grande on the Gila is frequently 
marked on early maps as an Aztec sojourning place. For this reason 
it Avas also commonly designated Casa de Montezuma. There seems 
no foundation for the association of the people of Casa Grande 
with the Aztec, and considerable doubt exists whether the ruin was 
ever visited by Coronado or any of his companions. 

Almost every writer on the Southwest who has dealt with the 
ruins of Arizona has introduced short references to Casa Grande, 
and many other writers have incidentally referred to it in discussing 
the antiquities of Mexico and Central America. Among the former 
are Browne,^ Ruxton,^ and Hinton,* while among the latter may be 
mentioned Prescott,^ Brantz Mayer,^ Brasseur de Bourbourg,^ Hum- 
boldt,^ Miihlenpfordt,'' and Squier.^° 

The Pima Indians, who dwell in the neighborhood, claim Casa 
Grande as the habitation of one of their ancient chiefs, and designate 
it by several names, among which are Vaaki, Old House; Civana- 
vaaki. Old House of the Chief; and Sialim Civanavaaki, Old House 
of Chief JMorning Green. 

Casa Grande was a ruin when discovered and has not been perma- 
nently inhabited since it was first seen by a white man. The identity 
of its builders has furnished a constant theme for speculation from 
the discoverv of the ruin to the present time. Although it has been 
ascribed to the Aztec, there is no evidence that the ancient people who 
inhabited this building were closely related to any tribes of the 
Mexican plateau, whose culture, as indicated by archeologic remains, 
was dilferent from that of the Pueblos, or sedentary tribes of Xew 
Mexico and Arizona. The age of Casa Grande and contiguous 
remains is unknown, but there is good reason to believe that settle- 
ments on their site were older than most of the present pueblos or 
cliff dwellings. The Pima claim, however, that it is not so old as 
ruins of the same general character situated near Phoenix, on Salt 
River, a short distance from its junction with the Gila. 



'■ (Ortega) Apostolicos afanes de la Compania -'^ .Tesus. escrito por un Padre de la 
mlsma sagrada religion de su Provincia de Mexico, p. J53, Barcelona. 1754. 

"Browne (J. Ross), Adventures in the Apache Country, pp. 114-124. New York I860 
3 Ruxton (George Frederic), Sur la migration des Anciens Mexicains ; in Xo'uvelles 
Annales des Voyages, 5me ser., t. XXII, pp. 40, 46, 52, Paris, 1850. 

* Hinton (Richard J.). The Great House of Montezuma; in Harper's Weekly "^'XXIII 
New York, May 18, 1880. 

" Prescott (Wm. H.), History of the Conquest of Mexico, III, p, 38.S, Philadelohia 
[c. 1873]. 

* Mayer (Brantz). (1) Mexico. Aztec, Spanish, and Republican. II. p. 306. Hartford. 
1853. (2) Obsei-rations on Mexican History and Archaeology; in Smithsonian Contribu- 
tions to Knowledge, IX, p. 15, Washington, 1856. 

'Brasseur de Bourbourg (M. I'Abbe), Histoire des nations ci^nlis^es du Mexique et de 
TAm^rique-Centrale, t. 2, p. 197, Paris, 1858. 

8 Humboldt (Friedrich H. Alex, de), Essai politique sur le rovaume de la Nouvelle- 
Espagne, t. I, p. 297, Paris, 1811. 

" Miihlenpfordt (Eduard), Versuch einer getreuen Schilderung der Republik Mejico, Bd. 
II, p. 435, Hannover, 1844. 

" Squier (E. G.), New Mexico and California ; in American Review, Nov., 1848. 



4 CASA GRANDE EUIN, ARIZONA. 

MAIN BUILDING. 
CONSTBUCTION, 

The walls of Casa Grande are of a fawn color slightly tinged 
with red. Externally they are rough and very much eroded, but 
the interior walls are'plastered, still showing places that formerly, in 
the words of Father Kino, were as smooth as " Puebla pottery." 

The walls are constructed of a natural cement, commonly called 
caliche by the Mexicans, composed of lime, earth, and pebbles; this 
was made into blocks, which were laid in courses. These blocks are 
supposed to have been made in position, the materials therefor being 
rammed into bottomless baskets or wooden frames that were raised 
as the AYork progressed until the wall reached the desired height. 
The blocks are not of uniform size, consequently the horizontal 
joints of the courses are not always the same distance apart. 
Although clearly shown in the outside walls, these joints are not 
visible in the interior walls on account of the plastering. 

The exterior faces of the walls are not perfectly plumb, the thick- 
ness of the walls at the top being much less than at the base. Impres- 
sions of human hands appear in places in the plaster of the north 
and the Avest rooms. Posts were used to support some of the narroAV 
walls, and stones emploj^ed for the same purpose are found in their 
foundations. 

Many conflicting statements regarding the former height of Casa 
Grande are on record, most authors favoring three or four stories. 
There Avere undoubtedly four stories counting from the IcA^el of the 
plain to the top of the highest Avail, as could be seen from the outside 
as one approached the structure, but the loAvest story Avas filled solid 
with earth, so that inside the building there were really only three 
tiers of rooms, one above the other in the central part of the ruin and 
two on each of the four sides. The entrance into the lowest room 
Avas on a IcA'el Avith the roofs of the surrounding buildings, forming 
a terrace that surrounded the base of Casa Grande, Entrance to the 
upper rooms Avas effected by means of ladders from the outside and 
by hatchways. The positions of the outside doorAvays indicate that 
there Avere entrances on all four sides, but the middle room had only 
one doorAvaA^j Avhich Avas situated on the east side. 

ROOMS. 

The ground plan of the main building shows that its walls form 
five inclosures, Avhich may be -"ormed the north, west, south, east, and 
central rooms. When the walls had reached the height of about 7 
feet, these inclosures were filled solid Avith earth, the upper surface 
forming the floors of the rooms of the first story. In the north, west, 
i-outh, and east inclosures there Avere tAvo rooms aboA^e each ground 
room ; the central room had three stories, being one story higher than 
the rooms v^hich surrounded it. 

WALLS. 

The interior walls of the north rooms in both stories are well pre- 
served except in the southeast corner, where there Avas probably a 
connection Avith six rooms Avhich extended to the north wall of the 



CASA GRANDE EUIN, ARIZONA. 5 

inclosnre. As indicated by a series of holes in the eastern and west- 
ern walls, the floor beams extended north and south. The position 
of the floors is also indicated by ledges, or setbacks, one of the best 
of which appears on the level of the roof in the north wall of the first 
story; there is also a narrow ledge on the south wall. The east and 
west walls in both stories are true to the perpendicular from base to 
top. The tops of the north and west walls of the second story show 
setbacks, and the apertures where the beams were inserted are clearly 
marked. Small holes indicating that rushes were used in the con- 
struction of the roof are well marked in the east and west walls of 
the second story. The outer face of the north wall is much eroded 
near the top, exhibiting no evidences of continuation into a third 
story. There was a low parapet rising slightly above the roof on 
ihe north, as well as on the east and west walls of the north room. 
Both lower and upper stories of the west room have smooth walls, 
but the exterior surface of the walls of the central room, above the 
line of the second floor, is rough, indicating that the western inclosnre 
never had more than two stories. The east wall of the west room is 
slightly curved, while the west wall of the same room is straight. 
Rows of holes in the east wall, which formerly received the floor 
beams, are arranged somewhat irregularly. The inner faces of the 
walls of the south room are finely finished, particularly on the south 
side, although the wall itself is in places more broken than the north 
or west walls. The holes for beams in the south wall are less regular 
in arrangement than those in the north wall. 

A fragment of the east wall of the south room remained standing 
up to Avithin a few years, when the repairs were made by contractors. 
At one time the south room was excavated far below its original 
floor, as indicated by the line of erosion on the surface of the north 
wall and a corresponding line on the opposite side walls. There were 
formerly two doors, one above the other, in the south wall, but the 
lintel between them has disappeared, the south wall remaining in the 
form of two very unsteady sections. The interior walls of the east 
room are finely finished, while the exterior surface of the east wall of 
the central room is very much eroded. The exterior surface of the 
east wall of the central section shows the effects of expostire to the 
weather, suggesting that there were btit two stories to the eastern 
part. The north wall of the central rooms runs through the east 
wall Avithout bonding, suggesting later construction of the latter. A 
wide crack left in the east wall where the north wall joins is smoothly 
plastered over for part of its length, a condition which imj^lies earlier 
construction. The inner walls of the central rooms are smooth; the 
marks of reeds, grasses, and rafters indicate the former existence of 
floors in this j^art of the building. The roughness of the plaster 
above the line of the floor of the second story indicates that there was 
once a low banquette about the room. The row of holes that accom- 
modated the beams of the roof of the third story is not flush with the 
top of the wall but somewhat below it, indicating that the walls there 
were formerl}' continued into a low parapet. 

FLOORS. 

The floors of the second and third stories served as ceilings of the 
first and second stories, respec^tively, and resemble those of the ordi- 
narv adobe houses of the Southwest. The beams were small cedar 



6 CASA GRANDE RUIN, ARIZONA, 

logs, most of which were Laid across the width of the room, their 
extremities being inserted for support in the walls, or in some in- 
stances laid on a~ledge or in a recess. The rows of holes that accom- 
modated the ends of the beams are to be seen in most of the rooms ; 
some of these holes are not strictly in line. Each roof ATas covered 
with mud firmly packed down and hardened by exposure to the air 
and to the constant pressure of human feet; in places api^ear the 
l^rints of reeds and grasses which were formerly laid on the rafters. 

DOORWAYS AND WINDOWS. 

The external entrances into most of the rooms of each story of Casa 
Grande were lateral, and there is reason to suppose that the rooms 
in which no openings appear in the side walls were entered by hatch- 
ways. As the floors have all disappeared, it is impossible, of course, 
to know what or where the entrances to rooms from the roof were. 
In the loAvest story was a doorway about midway in each side. Open- 
ings api^ear in about the corresponding positions in the stories above, 
except the third, where the only entrance to be seen is on the east 
side. As its threshold was on a level with the roof of the second 
story, this doorway probably opened on the roof of the east, rooms 
in that story. In addition to these external openings there were 
passageways between the north, south, east, and west^rooms, in the 
first and second stories. 

All the doorways were constructed on the same pattern. They 
averaged about 2 feet in width, and some were slightly narrower at 
the top than below. This decrease in width may be a survival of the 
times Avhen the conical, or beehive, form of architecture prevailed. 

The masonry over the doorways is now, as a rule, more or less 
broken, but it still shows holes for the insertion of logs that formed 
the lintels, which were arranged in series one above another. While 
most of the lintels Avliich supported the adobe have been wrenched 
out, some remain, holding in place the heavy material of whicli this 
part of the wall was built. 

There are several round apertures in the walls that may have served 
for lookouts. In the east wall of the central room to the left of the 
upper doorway are two such openings, each about 4 inches in diameter, 
and near the south end of this room in the east wall is another. Two 
similar apertures are found in the west wall of the inner room, one in 
the upper storj^ of the north Avail, and another in the south Avail. 

Cosmos Mindeleff makes the following statement : ^ 

The frequency of openings in the upper or third story and their absence on 
lower levels, except the specially arranged openings described later, supports the 
hyi)othesis that none of the rooms exceiit the middle one were ever more than 
two stories high and that the wall remains above the second roof level represent 
a low parapet. 

CASA GRANDE MOUNDS. 

GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 

It is evident to anyone who visits Casa Grande that the historic 
structure called by this name is only one of many blocks of buildings 
Avhich formerly existed in the immediate vicinity. While it is now 
difficult to determine Avhether all these structures Avere contempora- 

1 Thirteenth Ann. Rept., Bu. Ethnol., p. 314. 



CASA GRANDE EUIN, AEIZONA. 7 

neously occupied, it is evident that the Casa Grande Group, in its 
prime, was no mean settlement. Evidences of former habitations 
cover much of the surface of the reservation and extend on all sides 
far beyond its boundaries. The limits of this prehistoric settlement 
are difficult to determine. The whole plain was dotted at intervals 
with houses similar to those of Casa Grande, from the point where the 
Gila leaves the mountains to its junction with its largest tributary, 
the Salt, the valley of which is also marked by the remains of many 
similar prehistoric buildings. Not all the mounds on the Casa 
Grande Reservation, however, contains ruins of great buildings ; many 
walled structures, formerly homes of the inhabitants, have fallen, 
leaving but slight traces of their existence — no vestiges of walls 
above the surface of the ground, merely broken metates or frag- 
ments of j)ottery scattered over a limited area. This destruction was 
inevitable, owing to the fragile character of the wattled walls. Even 
the foundations of heavier walls of many of the buildings are buried 
in the debris from the ii]Dper courses. 

Two tvpes of mounds occur in the Casa Grande Group: (1) Thosft 
containing walls of houses and (2) those consisting entirely of earth 
and debris not including buried walls. The former are composed of 
earth or clay, which has fallen from the walls, burying the founda- 
tions, augmented by sand blown by the winds. Mounds of the sec- 
ond class are composed solely of debris; when opened, some of these 
show stratification, as if formed of mud or soil deposited artificially 
on them from time to time in clearing out reservoirs or making 
other excavations, while others contain ashes and fragments of pottery 
scattered through the soil from the surface to a considerable depth. 
Certain of these mounds are devoid of features suggesting artificial 
origin. 

Mounds of the first class admit of still further classification into 
two kinds: {a) Those arranged in clusters, each resting on a plat- 
form, bounded by a surrounding wall — these are remains of com- 
pounds; (b) compact blocks of rooms, each without a surrounding 
wall, known as clan houses. While the name Casa Grande is here 
applied to the main building of one compound (A), the designation 
Casa Grande Group of mounds includes all the clusters of adjacent 
mounds situated on the reservation. For many years the main build- 
ing and a few outlying walls were the only structures projecting 
above the surface, but now it is known that the historic Casa Grande 
is but one of many aboriginal buildings in this neighborhood. Exca- 
vations have established the fact that many mounds of the Casa 
Grande Group are remains of former houses, and that there are as 
many others composed of the debris of former habitations. 

For convenience of study and reference the large walled inclosures 
constituting the first class of mounds, called compounds, are desig- 
nated A, B, C, D, and E. These will be considered in order. 

COMPOUND A. 

Compound A is not only the largest of the Casa Grande compounds, 
but is also the most important, containing as it does the historic ruin 
and a few other v/alls of rooms standing above ground when excava- 
tions began. 



CASA GRANDE RUIN", ARIZONA. 




CASA GRANDE RUIN, ARIZONA. 9 

The dimensions of Compound A are as follows : The length of the 
west wall is 419 feet; of the east wall, 420 feet; of the north wall, 
223.3 feet ; and of the south wall, 215 feet. The west wall bears north 
3° 00' east; the south wall, south 81° 35' east. The west wall of the 
main building bears north 4° 30' east, or south 4° 30' west, i. e., 
1° 30' out of parallel Avith the compound. 

The following buildings, plazas, and courts have been excavated in 
Compound A : 

(1) Southwest building; (2) northeast building; (3) rooms on 
west wall; (4) six ceremonial rooms ; (5) central building; (6) Font's 
room; (7) rooms between Casa Grande and Font's room; (8) rooms 
adjoining ceremonial rooms on north wall; (9) northwest room; 
(10) room near east w^all; (11) northeast plaza; (12) central plaza; 
(13) east plaza ; (14) southwest plaza ; (15) south court. 

The most important block of rooms is of course (16) Casa Grande. 

SOUTH AVEST BUILDING. 

Father Font wrote of Casa Grande as follows: 

The house Casa Grande forms an oblong square facing to the four cardinal 
points, east, west, north, and south, and round about it there are ruins indi- 
cating a fence or wall, which surrounded the house and other buildings, par- 
ticularly in the corners, where it aijpears there has been some edifice like an 
interior castle or watchtower. for in the angle which faces toward the south- 
west there stands a ruin with its divisions and an upper storj'. 

This southwest building is undoubtedl}^ one of the " other build- 
ings " referred to. 

In Fonfs plan of Compound A, a single chambered room is repre- 
sented in the southwest corner. Bartlett gave a plan of the cluster 
of rooms in this angle, but neither Bartlett's nor Font's plans are 
complete, for there are in reality six rooms in this corner of the 
compound, not counting an adjacent rectangular room separated from 
this cluster by a court. Several later authors have mentioned and 
figured tliese two fragments of walls standing aboA-e a mound south- 
west of the main building, and one or tAvo have suggested that they 
were formerly connected Avith Casa Grande by walls. 

NORTHEAST BUILDING. 

The first historic building, Casa Grande, was not the largest in 
Compound A. The combined length of the six ceremonial rooms is 
double that of the main building, although their width is much less. 
A building standing northeast of Font's room is the largest yet 
excavated and contains many more rooms, some of which are larger 
thp.n any in the historic building. 

11ie arrangement of the rooms in the northeast building is differ- 
ent from that of Casa Grande, but is typical of others, especially the 
extra-mural clan houses. This similarity would lead one to suspect 
that this building was not, like the main building, a ceremonial, but 
rather a residential house. The typical form, to wdiich reference is 
made, is that of a carpenter's try-square, or that of two sides of a rec- 
tangle — a form that reappears in the most southerly situated of the 
tAvo clan houses on the east and the clustar of rooms in the southwest 
corner of Compound B. The six ceremonial rooms, together with 

65322°— 16 2 



10 CASA GRANDE RUIN, ARIZONA. 

those extending eastward from the most northerly of these along the 
inner surface of the north wall, make also a gTOiip of the same try- 
square shape. Since one arm of the northeast cluster is formed by 
the east wall of the compound, it follows that this arm extends ap- 
proximately east and west, and necessarily the other arm of the try- 
square lies at right angles, or north and south. 

ROOMS ON THE WEST WALL. 

Between the cluster of rooms occupying the southwest angle of 
the compound and the single '' bastion " or '' castle '' at the north- 
west corner, there are several rooms, the walls of which appeared 
when the soil was removed from the inner or east side of the west 
wall. 

The most characteristic of these dependent rooms, G, is separated 
by a narrow court from the northern wall of the southwest cluster. 
Unfortunately, one corner of this room was cut down before its ex- 
istence was detected, but wherever its four walls were revealed they 
indicated a room of large size. In one corner there stood a large vase, 
too fragile to remove, which was consequently left in the place where 
found. The Casa Grande-Florence stage route formerly crossed the 
compound over the corner of this room directly above this vase. 

On the west side of Casa Grande, or directly between the main 
building and the west wall of the compound, there were excavated 
several "rooms, H, I, and J, the walls of which are low and single- 
storied. One of these rooms, J, is situated on the northwest corner 
of the ruin, and has its west wall continuous with that Avhich forms 
the retaining wall of the north terrace. There are also two rooms 
on the southwestern corner which bear the same relation to the ter- 
race wall of the south side. These two are separated by a court and 
have low walls. There does not seem to have been a building directly 
west of the main ruin and no sign of a terrace now remains on that 
side. The exact connections of the rooms along the west wall, south- 
west of the main ruin, with those on the southwest corner can be 
made clear only by continuation of the work in the unexcavated part 
of the compound. As shown in the ground plan, there are w^alls 
standing in that part of the compound; there is also a level space 
called the southwest plaza, situated between the wall of the most 
southerly room at the southwest angle of the main ruin and the 
northern wall of the room on the west wall adjacent to the building 
in the southwest angle. 

SIX CEREMONIAL ROOMS. 

Linear arrangement of rooms is exceptional in this compound. 
This row extends from the northeast corner of the main building 
to the north wall of the compound, with which the most northern 
room is united. The line of these rooms is not parallel with either 
the east or west walls of the compound, and their longest measure- 
ments vary, although the widths of the rooms are about uniform. 
Although the connection which formerly bound these rooms to the 
main building has been destroyed, there is no doubt that such a union 
once existed and that they were probably united to a solid terrace, 
which we must suppose existed on the north, east, and south sides of 
the main building. 



CASA GRANDE RUIN, ARIZONA. H 

Before excavations were begun, the row of ceremonial rooms was 
indicated only by a ridge of earth extending from the northeast cor- 
ner of the main building northward. It is' evident that the roof of 
these rooms was on a level with the floor of the lowest rooms of Casa 
Grande, which communicated with the roofs of these ceremonial 
i-ooms on the north, east, and south by means of the basal terrace, of 
which mention has been made. In this way one could pass directly 
into these rooms through the doorways in the middle of the sides of 
the main building. 

CENTER BUILDING. 

When work was begun on Compound A the center building was a 
low, regular mound situated near the southeast angle of the main 
building, occupying a somewhat similar relation to that corner that 
the first of the six ceremonial rooms does to the northeast angle. 
This mound was opened to the base, revealing several intersecting 
walls and rooms. When one stands at the north wall of the com- 
pound and runs his eye along the east side of the six ceremonial 
rooms, it is found that the middle wall of the center building is in 
the line of the eye, which also follows the supposititious retaining 
wall of the east terrace of the main building and the east boundary 
wall of the southwest plaza. The southeast corner of the main build- 
ing, Casa Grande, is broken in much the same way as the northeast 
angle near the six ceremonial rooms, possibly from the same cause. 

font's room. 

Mange states that Father Kino said mass in the Casas Grandes, 
and it is generally believed that this ceremony was performed in one 
of the rooms of Casa Grande. As there Avere at the time of Kino's 
visit several other rooms in the group, some of which were more 
commodious, it is interesting to speculate on the possibility of one of 
these being that referred to. 

Just east of Casa Grande was a large building, formerly two stories 
high, which was apparently in a fair state of preservation when 
Father Font visited it in 1775. So accurately has this zealous priest 
described and mapped this room, that it is called after him and is 
referred to as " Font's room " in this article. 

Mange states in his diary that — 

a crossbow shot farther on 12 other houses are seen half tumbled down, aNo 
with thick walls and all with roofs burnt except one room beneath one house, 
with round beams, smooth and not thick, which appear to be cedar or savin, 
and over them rush reeds very similar to them and a layer of mortar and hard 
clay, making a ceiling or story of very peculiar character. 

Font, 70 years after, wrote: 

In front of the east door, separated from the casa, there is another building 
with dimensions from north to south 26 feet and from east to west 18, exclusive 
of the thickness of the walls. 

Directly west, of Font's room is a ])assageway communicating with 
the central plaza. The floor of this passageway is hard and very com- 
pact, and on one side there were excavated an eagle skeleton and 
bones of several rabbits. 



12 CASA GEANDE KUIN, ARIZONA. 

ROOMS BETWEEN CASA GRANDE AND FONt's ROOM. 

East of Casa Grande there were several large rooms with low, 
massive Avails, evidently of one story. It would appear that in 
ancient limes these rooms joined the terrace at the base of Casa 
Grande, and we may suppose that their roofs were on the level with 
the floor of the lowest room of the historic building. Apparently 
these rooms were not all constructed at the same time, the two at the 
north showing evidences of being older than the southern pair. 

One of these rooms, C, was found to contain much debris, consist- 
ing of pottery fragments, charred basketry, cloth, maize, mesquite 
beans, marine shells, and other objects. It appears to have been a 
dumping place, and as it has every appearance of having once been a 
room. Ave may suppose that it was deserted while some of the other 
rooms of Compound A were still inhabited. 

R00:\rS ADJOINING THE MOST NORTHERLY OF THE SIX CERE]\IONIAL ROOMS. 

Adjoining the most northerly of the six ceremonial rooms on its 
east side there lies a room or court, G, surrounded by walls, which 
appears to have been Avithout a roof. Its floor is hard, as if made so 
by the tramp of many feet; its Avails are massive, Avith smooth sur- 
faces. A Avalled-up doorway, recalling a similar feature in the west 
room of the main building, occurs in the Avail separating this room 
from the most northerly of the six ceremonial rooms. 

NORTHAVEST ROOM. 

This room is single-storied, Avith free Avails on two sides, the other 
sides being the Avails of the compound. An entrance into the com- 
pound on the north side is situated near this corner room. 

The excavations revealed many ceremonial objects on the floor, 
which would appear to indicate that the room Avas used for other 
than secular purposes. Household utensils, as grinding stones, which 
would be expected in a living chamber, were absent. No soot or 
other evidences of a fire were obserA^ed on the walls, and there were 
no charred logs or rafters. 

ROOMS NEAR EAST AVALL. 

South of the plaza Avhich lies to the east of the two-storied build- 
ing known as Font's room are situated the remains of some massive 
Avails which formed a large square inclosure separated from the east 
wall only by a narrow passage. 

This building was evidently formerly one story high. Its size is 
so great that it is doubtful Avhether or not it Avas roofed, but if it had 
a roof it Avould be one of the largest rooms of Compound A. 

NORTHEAST PLAZA. 

The situation of this plaza and the fact that no doorways opened 
into it or terraced roofs looked doAvn upon it imply that it Avas not a 
favorite one for ceremonial dances or spectacular performances. As 
the walls about it are, as a rule, massiA^e, the plaza may have served 



CA.SA GrEANDE EUIlSr, AEIZOlSrA. 13 

as a safe place to which to flee for protection, and it is probable that 
cabins, not unlike the Pima huts of the last generation, were tempo- 
rarily erected in this and other plazas. 

CENTRAL PLAZA. 

The centrally placed, and on that account probably the mast sacred, 
plaza of Compound A is surrounded by buildings, the roofs of which 
no doubt served as elevations from which spectators could witness the 
sacred dances and games. The floor of this plaza was solid, appar- 
ently hardened by constant tramping of feet. The labor involved 
in cutting down the earth in this plaza to the former floor was con- 
siderable, it being necessary to remove many cubic yards of grout 
that had fallen from the thick walls of the northeast building and the 
six ceremonial rooms. The southwest corner of the plaza Avas not ex- 
cavated, because of a large stake to which is attached the iron rod 
that serves as a guy for the northeast corner of the roof built over the 
ruin. 

The plaza appears to have been used as a burial place, for a human 
skeleton was dug out of the floor near its southeast corner, but the 
body might have been buried after the compound had been deserted. 

There were excavated from this plaza, near the passageway west of 
the tall wall of Font's room, the skeleton of an eagle and several 
rabbit bones. It was probably customary at Casa Grande to domes- 
ticate eagles for their feathers and to keep them in confinement. 

EAST PLAZA. 

This plaza was almost wholly surrounded by rooms, and from its 
position was evidently one of the most popular of all the inclosures of 
this kind. From the roof of the main building one could probably 
jook over Font's room into this plaza. Although the plaza is a small 
one, its eastern position would give it considerable ceremonial im- 
portance. The accumulated earth was cut down to the original level 
and removed outside the compound. There does not seem to be suffi- 
cient evidence that there was an eastern entrance AVay to this plaza, 
although it was looked for when excavations were made. 

SOUTHWEST PLAZA. 

This plaza adjoins the west wiill of the compound, extending from 
the rooms southwest of the main ruin to the first of the cluster of 
rooms in the southwest angle. Although large quantities of earth 
were removed from this inclosure, it has not been wholly leveled to 
the floor, especially on the east side, near a wall which is a continua- 
tion of the rooms at the southwest corner of the main ruin. This 
wall was exposed along its whole length, but showed no rooms on the 
west side, although probably there are several on the east, or unex- 
cavated, side. 

SOUTH COURT. 

A long court extends across the whole south end of the compound 
from the southwest cluster of rooms to the east wall. Its form sug- 
gests a ball court or course for foot races. In connection with the 



14 CASA GEANDE RUIX, ARIZONA. 

former suggestion it is interesting to note that several stone balls, 
such as were used, according to Pima legends, in a game of kicking 
ball, were found in this court ; this game is still practiced by the 
Pimas. Near one end there was excavated a square perforated stone, 
recalling that through which balls were thrown in the Nahuatl game 
of pelote. 

As will be seen from the accompamdng plan of Compound A, the 
whole inclosure has not been completely excavated, but enough debris 
has been removed to show its general character. There are no large 
unexcavated mounds remaining in this compound, and the level 
space in the southeastern part was either a plaza or. more probably, 
the site of many habitations, whose fragile walls have fallen, raising 
the surface to a uniform height. On this supposition we should look 
here for the remains of houses in which the majority of the people 
lived. 

From the study of Compound A we can get an idea of the structural 
character of one of these Gila Valley prehistoric settlements. The 
people lived in clusters of houses surrounded by a common wall, which 
inclosed also massive houses that served as temples or as citadels for 
protection. Regarding the sociologic condition, whether each com- 
pound housed and protected many families unrelated by blood, or 
clans related to one another, can not be determined from the infor- 
mation available. That the compounds may have been built at 
different times appears probable, but it can hardly be supposed that 
one compound was completely deserted at one time and that the inhab- 
itants might have moved to another site a few hundred feet awa5^ If 
these compounds were inhabited at the same time, it may be readily 
supposed that there was considerable intermarriage of clans and 
therefore intermingling of blood. As no known legends speak of 
more than one chief of Casa Grande, the supposition is that the 
inhabitants recognized only one head. There is ground for the belief 
that the age of Compound A is not so great as that of Compound B, 
although it is of considerable antiquity. Casa Grande itself seems to 
have been constructed at different times, as it shows evidences of 
growth by a series of additions. There are no known data by which 
its age can be computed and none to determine which compound was 
the last to be deserted. It is known that Compound A was a ruin in 
1694, but from the earliest accounts nothing can be ascertained which 
would show how long before that date the ancients occupied the 
buildings. The indications afforded by the rate of wear of the walls 
since the beginning of the eighteenth century lead to the belief that 
a few generations before that time Casa Grande was a populous 
settlement. 

The orientation of the surrounding walls of the compounds and of 
the buildings within them is well marked, this feature appearing very 
significantly in Compound A. The greatest length of all the com- 
pounds is north and south. The doorways of the buildings, when 
practicable, open toward the east. 

In certain walls is found evidence contradicting the theory that 
they were built by stamping caliche into bottomless baskets or boxes, 
as generally taught, and as indicated by the joints on the west side 
of the main ruin. At various places in the walls may still be seen 
masses of clay patted into shape by human hands, the imprints of 



CASA GRANDE RUIN, ARIZONA. 15 

which are clear. Some of these masses, which are just large enough 
to have been handled by one workman, were evidently dumped on 
the wall and subsequently were not so stamped that they lost their 
original shape. 

COMPOUND B. 

\Vhen work on it began Compound B consisted of two mounds 
resting on a platform, the bases around both mounds being so filled 
in with earth that the surrounding wall formed the edge of a plat- 
form or terrace. The most extensive of these inclosed mounds 
(Pyramid B) occupied the southwest corner of the platform. The 
largest and most massive (Pyramid A) has a flat top, from which 
the visitor can see, in clear weather, the cupola of the courthouse in 
Florence, 12 miles away. 

Compound B is 840 feet northeast of Compound A. Its excavated 
surrounding wall on the east and north sides, respectively, meas- 
ures 299 feet and 180 feet; the west side is 297 feet long and the 
south side 167 feet. The compound is oriented approximately north 
and south. 

When the excavation of Compound B began no part of the sur- 
rounding wall was visible, its existence being indicated only by a 
slight rise above the level of the surrounding plain. The first work 
attempted was the determination of the angles or corners of this 
compound. This work brought to light a massive wall surrounding 
the whole inclosure. It is evident from the amount of debris that 
had accumulated on the outside of this wall that it must have been 
formerly at least 7 feet high. The accumulated earth was removed 
to a depth of -4 feet, the present average height of the wall. This 
wall was found to be much higher on the west side than on the east, 
south, or north, and in order to obtain a level for the drain con- 
structed around the compound to carry away the surplus water, it 
was necessarj^ to remove debris on the west wall to a depth of at 
least 9 feet. Below that depth many circular depressions, similar to 
those used by Pima in mixing mortar for the walls, were found, and 
it is believed that the former level of the foundation of the compound 
was reached on that side. 

None of the outside walls of Compound B laid bare by excavation 
were found to be straight and none were exactly perpendicular. 
The thickness of the surrounding wall varies; in some places it is 
as much as 5 feet and is, on the average, about 3^ feet. Outside the 
wall, about 7 feet from the former foundation, was dug a shallow 
ditch surrounding the whole compound. This ditch was continued 
into deeper ones extending from the northwest and southwest corners 
in order to carry all superfluous water from the foundations of the 
walls into a natural depression some 50 feet from the compound. 

A subterranean room provided -with a cemented floor, walls, and 
fireplace was discovered near the northeast corner, under the foun- 
dation of the exterior wall.^ This was evidently a pit-house inhabited 
before the massive wall had been constructed and antedating the 
structures built above it. Traces of similar subterranean rooms are 
found within the compound near the same corner. 

1 The diagonals of none of the rooms at Casa Grande are exactly equal in length. 




COMPOUND 
C 



%->« 



1 %f: 



4 



't:s. 



'#*if CLAN HOUSE 
2 






CLAN HOUSE 
3 



CASA 
GRANDE ^& 

Jf 




COMPOUND- 




65322" — 16. (Pages 16-17.) 



General plan of Casa 



/IDl 






n — 



BF 



nJk 



fi 



<l;£ *■>>"«<» j_ 



??^/l 



^£ compound" 










>^~ .= 



COMPOUND 
D 



#fc/ 



(^'ife; 



CLAN HOUSE 

i 



rnr: GRorp of ruixs. 



18 



CASA GEANDE EUIN, ARIZONA. 




o.y 



a & 

3 ^ 



.ii^^v Z9I 



kS^-l) 



CASA GEANDE RUIN, ARIZONA. 19 

The outside wall of Compound B was constructed, like that of 
Casa Grande proper, of huge blocks of natural cement, which were 
rnade where they now rest, the marks of successive blocks being 
visible at several points where the union is not perfect. Evidences 
that this wall had been repaired by ancient builders are seen in 
many places, and it appears that the form and direction of the 
original wall have been modified by its enlargement at the southeast 
corner. Within the inclosure surrounded by the massive exterior 
wall were found evidences of two kinds of buildings: First, those 
made of cement blocks, characteristically massive; second, those 
having fragile walls supported b}^ upright posts. Some of the walls 
of buildings of the former class still remain upright, but those of 
the latter have fallen, their positions being indicated only by decayed 
stumps. To the first type belong also weil-plastered floors, in which 
are present circular depressions that served as fireplaces. If we 
interpret buildings of the first type as temples used for ceremonial 
purposes, the fragile-walled buildings may be regarded as habitations 
of the i^eople comparable with those in which the Pima have lived 
since known to history'. 

PYRAMID A. 

The two large pyramidal elevations occupying much of the in- 
closure of Compound B were found on excavation to be remarkable 
structures, suggesting a style of architecture common in Mexico. It 
appears that the larger and most northerly of these structures, desig- 
nated on the map as A, was a pyramid, formerly marked by the 
presence of two or three teri'aces, the massive walls of which still 
rise at one point to a height of more than 10 feet. The top of this 
pyramid is square and level. A deep excavation made in its north 
end revealed a long chamber, suggesting the north room of Casa 
Grande. On the southwest side of this pyramid shallow excavations 
revealed several cemented floors one below another, and vertical 
walls indicated by deca3"ed posts which formerly supported them; 
each of these floors contains a well-made fire pit. The shape of the 
rooms, as shown by the positions of the stumps, was rectangidar ; the 
length was double the wudth. A doorwa}', indicated by the absence 
of upright logs from one side, was just in front of the fireplace, 
which itself was situated, not in the center of the room, but slightly 
nearer one side. The existence of these floors or evidences of rooms 
situated one above the other would seem to indicate that a consider- 
able portion of this pyramid was formed by accumulations of earth 
resulting from the decay of habitations. The supposition is that this 
accumulation continued through a long period and that new habi- 
tations were built on the debris of those below. Excavations ex- 
tended in the southwest angle of the pyramid to a level with the out- 
side plazas showed that there were in this mound seven layers of 
floors, indicating by the above theory seven successive constructions 
or times of habitation. 

PYRAMID B. 

Pyramid B, which is situated in the scRithwest section of Com- 
pound B, is separated in part from the west wall of the compound 
by a plaza 100 feet long by 50 feet wide. The pyramidal form so 



20 CASA GEANDE RUIN, AEIZONA. 

well seen in Pyramid A does not appear in Pj'ramid B, the shape 
of which is try-square, a mound extending north and south with a 
western extension. On the top of this mound, as on Pyramid A, 
were found floors of houses whose upright walls were indicated by 
decayed posts; below were other floors, resembling those found on 
top of Pyramid A. There were remains of a shrine at the southwest 
corner of the top of Pyramid B ; in it were found fragments of copper 
and many strangely formed stones. The north end of Pyramid B, 
extending toAvard the west, w^all of the compound and forming the 
north Avail of the southwest plaza, was occupied by two rooms, the 
massive walls of which are 8 feet high and average 4 feet thick. 
The ground plan of these rooms resembles in shape a try-square. 
Their common west wall is separated from the west wall of the com- 
pound by a passageway, through which one formerly could enter the 
southwest plaza from the central plaza. ^ The. walls show no indi- 
cation of a side entrance, and no proof was obtained that the rooms 
were roofed. The most logical supposition is that they were entered 
from the top of the adjacent mound by means of ladders or notched 
logs. Each of these rooms had a fireplace near the middle of the 
room, well-plastered floors, and vertical Avails; they have no lateral 
openings for communication Avith each other. 

In one of these rooms was found a mass of caliche about the size 
of a small keg, Avhich had a cavity in one end, while the opposite 
extremity was rounded. This object resembled a rude stove or oven,* 
the cavity being used formerly for storage of fuel. A somewhat 
similar object was found buried under or near the Avest Avail of Com- 
pound C. The other objects found in these rooms are evidently cere- 
monial and perhaps serA^ed someAvhat the same Durpose as those found 
in the large rooms of Casa Grande. 

In the floor of what appears to have been either a room or a small 
plaza, on top of Pyramid B at its southwest corner, was found a 
shallow pit or depression about a foot in diameter, which had a hemi- 
spherical coA^er made of caliche ; this cover, which was perforated by 
two holes, fitted accurately into the depression. The purpose of this 
pit and cover was not ascertained, nothing being found that afforded 
any clue to their use. 

ROOMS EAST OF PYRAMID B. 

The inclosure east of Pyramid B and south of Pyramid A forms 
a large plaza, in the southern part of Avhich are several buildings 
of massive proportions. These have been excavated to their floors, 
which are Avell preserved. Tavo of these rooms are especially note- 
Avorthy. These were formerly a single story in height and show no 
evidence of ever having been higher. Although separated by a 
narrow court, or passageway, both rooms open into the same court 
through well-made doorways, the jambs and thresholds of which are 
smooth and AA^ell preserved. When these rooms Avere uncovered, it 
was found that their floors Avere made of hardened adobe upon which, 
when first brought to light, could be seen impressions of matting laid 
upon them when the room was inhabited. This would seem to show 

1 These narrow passageways exist also in Compound A, as between Font's room and the 
massive-walled structures east of the main building. 

* Like the pits the Hopi use in baking their ceremonial pudding (pigume). 



CASA GRANDE RUIN, ARIZONA. 21 

that the ancient people of Casa Grande used a kind of sleeping mat 
similar to that employed by the Pima Indians. The preservation of 
these impressions for so long a time is certainly remarkable. 

The walls of these rooms are covered with several layers of smooth 
plaster, each very carefully applied. The size and shape of the rooms 
lead to the belief that they were connected with ceremonal rather than 
with domestic life. In the open places adjoining these chambers the 
former existence of rectangular rooms is indicated by rows of holes in 
which w^ere found decayed fragments of wooden posts that had for- 
merly supported the fragile walls, long since fallen. Where possible, 
these were carefully replaced by new logs. The number of these 
habitations could not be determined. Their floors may be traced by 
the remaining cement, hardened by the tramping of many feet, but 
no fireplaces were found in these floors or in the walled buildings east 
of Pyramid B. 

SOUTHEAST PLAZA. 

In the southeast plaza of Compound B evidences of several rooms 
were brought to light, although for the greater part their once mas- 
sive walls were very much broken down. Here Avere found indi- 
cations of fragile-walled rooms, their floors situated one above another, 
separated by a few inches of soil. There had evidently been a 
change of plan in this quarter which had led to secondary con- 
struction, thus modifying more or less the original architecture. 
The exterior walls of the compound at this point and for about 50 
feet north along the east w^all are double. Within the inclosure 
near the southeast angle ^ appeared rows of decayed posts, remains 
of walls, arranged in quadrangular form, indicating the former 
existence of several fragile-walled dwellings. 

East of Pyramid A, between it and the east wall of the compound, 
w^ere traced portions of the massive walls of a large building, very 
much mutilated. To the north of this building are remains of three 
fine rectangular buildings having well-formed floors, fireplaces, and 
walls. 

NORTH PLAZA. 

Due north of P^^ramid A, between it and the north wall, from 
which it is separated by a narrow passage, was found a large build- 
ing fully 40 feet long; the floor is partially subterranean and the 
doorway opens to the south. Between this building and the north- 
east corner of the compound were other massive rooms, the walls 
of which are destroyed to so great an extent that their ground plan 
can not satisfactorily be traced. In this region reoccurs evidence 
of successive strata of floors, suggesting repeated occupancy of the 
same site by the rebuilding of new houses on the debris formed by 
the destruction of older ones. Almost all the north side of this 
compound is occupied by a room 15 feet wide and extending in 
length about 80 feet eastward from the northwest angle. The use 
of a room of this shape and size is conjectural. There is no evidence 
of the former existence in this area of rooms of fragile construction. 

^ It was not possible to trace the rooms by means of the remaining walls in the south- 
east angle of this inclosure, owing in part to the dilapidated condition of these walls. 



22 CASA GRANDE EUIN, ARIZONA. 

WEST AREA. 

The west area of the inclosure, or the section north of Pyramid B, 
was wholly covered with fragile-walled buildings, the remnants of 
which show that they were built along streets and around courts, 
which can still readily be traced. Here occur also remnants of 
thick walls, indicating dwellings of moderate height but without 
large rooms. It would seem from the arrangement of the rows of 
holes in which the upright supi^orts of the former walls stood that 
a street, extending north and south, bisected this section of the 
compound and that rooms were arranged along both sides. These 
rooms were rectangular, with a iirepot or fireplace in the floor of 
each at or near the center; the doorways are in the longer side, 
about midway. 

Attention should be called to a room of this row, on the north 
side of the street about west of the middle pyramid. West of the 
great Pyramid A was an inclosure in the walls of a house, containing 
three small stone idols and a number of oddly formed stones, all 
suggestive of shrine deposits. 

When the workmen who had excavated this shrine and removed 
its contents ceased work, one of the Pima made a symbol called 
tcuhuki (" house of Tcuhu,") on the pile of excavated sand. Although 
disclaiming any knowledge of connection between this figure and 
the contents of the shrine, he gave reason to believe there was some 
meaning not yet discovered. The same symbol was found by 
Mindeleff on a wall of Casa Grande. 

The collection of stones from this shrine is a remarkable one, being 
equaled only by the contents of certain shrines of the Hopi. Most 
of these stones had been brought from a distance; they consist of 
bowlders and pebbles from the Gila, twisted and contorted frag- 
ments of lava, petrified wood, and objects of sandstone and other 
rocks, botryoidal in form. There are also pigments of various 
colors — green copper ore, white kaolin, and black shale, Avith frag- 
ments of red iron oxide. 

The general appearance of Compound B after excavation leads 
to the belief that it contained fewer massive-walled buildings than 
Compound A, and that the number of more perishable habitations 
was much larger. 

The character of the mounds of Compound B and the e^ndence of 
great erosion (greater than in Compound A) they exhibit suggest 
considerable age, an idea confirmed by the superposed strata of floors 
and the subterranean walls and " pit rooms " under the boundary 
walls. Compound B is believed to be much older than Compound A, 
but whether it was abandoned before the latter was erected is a ques- 
tion which can not be answered. The age of Compound B as com- 
pared with that of the other compounds is also hypothetic; few data 
remain that can be used in such comparisons. 

SUBTERRANEAN ROOMS. 

Subterranean rooms were found near the northeast corner of Com- 
pound B, apparently filling the whole of that section. The best- 
preserved of these lies directly under the east wall, which passes over 
it at an angle. It seemed important to protect this room by erecting 



CASA GRANDE RUIN, ARIZONA. 23 

a roof over it. The position of the wall, of the floor beneath, and of 
the fireplace several feet below it and the level of the plain, indicates 
that these subterranean structures were made before the wall of the 
compound was constructed. 

The presence of subterranean rooms under the walls of Compound 
B proves that the people of this region lived in pit-dwellings on that 
site before they constructed the wall. This fact points to a belief 
that the pit dwelling is the oldest form, and if so search for the kin 
of the original inhabitants of the Gila-Salt Valleys may be made 
among those dwelling in similar habitations. Taken in connection 
Avith the existence of cremation, this clue serves to direct attention 
to California tribes, thus adding weight to a legend that the pre- 
historic peopling of southern Arizona was by migration by way of 
the mouth of the Gila. 

COMPOUND C. 

Compound C, situated due west of B, is, on account of its moder- 
ate height, the least conspicuous of all the compounds. As there are 
no mounds Avithin the inclosure it seems never to have had extensive 
buildings, but to have been merely a rectangular area surrounded by 
a wall, in which was clustered a large number of fragile-walled 
rooms that once served for dwellings but are now destroyed. The 
outside dimensions of the compound are not far from 300 feet long 
by 40 feet wide, and the surrounding wall in places was 4 feet in 
thickness and probably breast high. There appears to have been 
a gateway about midway in the west side, and at the northwest corner 
was once an opening of considerable size. The shape of the com- 
pound is not perfectly rectangular, the whole northern portion hav- 
ing been much more eroded by the elements than the southern end. 
In the southern section still remain fragments of walls, some of 
which were a part of buildings of considerable size, possibly of com- 
munal nature. Most of the walls of buildings in Compound C were 
supported by upright posts, the stumps of some of which still remain, 
notwithstanding the walls themselves have fallen. In the southeast 
corner rose a small square tower, or lookout, the foundations of which 
are well preserved, although the portion of the walls above ground is 
entirely destroyed. 

The greater part of Compound C was cov^ered with rows of houses, 
the floors and fragments of the walls of which, although present in 
several places, are now very much dilapidated. All the evidence in- 
dicates that this compound was of much later construction than Com- 
pounds A and B and that it was not inhabitated long enough to have 
temples or specialized rooms for ceremonial purposes. 

Not far from the west side of this compound can be traced for a 
considerable distance the remains of an irrigating ditch, which ex- 
tends from the Gila to a point west of the Casa Grande Group of 
ruins. This ditch entered the Gila at a point higher up, about 3 
miles from the ruin. 

Near this compound, averaging about 20 feet distance from the 
surrounding walls, is a succession of low mounds resembling the 
refuse-heaps found in the vicinity of the other compounds. From 
the numerous fragments of potteiy that are found on them, it may 
be infeiTed that some of these mounds were perhaps places where 
•pottery was fired; othei-s of circular shape show on their surface 



24 CASA GRANDE EUIISr, AEIZONA. 

charcoal and wood ashes. These elevations may possibly have been 
used in some instances for the cremation of human bodies. Excava- 
tions in mounds of this kind revealed alternate layers of charcoal 
and ashes, with drifted sand deposited upon each. From the rela- 
tively large number of pottery fragments and stone implements in 
this mound it appears that the place was formerly inhabited by a 
large number of persons. The inclosing wall served as a protection 
for the buildings within it that have long since fallen. 

COMPOUND D. 

Compound D. which is situated about the same distance east of 
Compound B as is Compound C in the opposite direction, is rectangu- 
lar and oriented about north and south, as are other Casa Grande 
compounds. It was of apparently the same general character as the 
others, containing a massive building centrally placed, the walls of 
which have been greatly eroded by the elements. 

Within the surrounding wall were also numerous rooms whose 
fragile walls have fallen, burying their floors two or three feet below 
the surface. At the periphery of one of the floors a row of holes in 
which upright posts formerly stood could readily be traced, showing 
that the room was rectangular in form and had a doorway on one 
side. The fireplace, a round depression in the floor just in front of 
the doorway, still contained ashes. The conditions here are similar 
to those in Compound B. The massive-Avalled buildings doubtless 
served as granaries or po&sibly were devoted to religious purposes; 
the fragile-walled structures were the dwellings of the people. The 
eroded appearance of this compound suggests great age, stamping 
it as one of the oldest of the Casa Grande Group. 

In the character of the masonry the massive-walled buildings of 
Compound D closely resemble those elsewhere described. They are 
not as high as the corresponding structures of Compounds A and B, 
having been greatly weathered. The surrounding wall was low, in 
no place above the surface of the ground, and its course could not be 
traced by excavation. The central building was apparently connected 
by a wall with one side of the wall of the compound. 

On the plastering of one of these buildings are black impressions 
of human hands. The rooms were excavated to their floors, but no 
objects of importance were found. 

COMPOUNDS E AND F. 

Eemnants of large walls identified as boundaries of several other 
compounds were traced at various places in the reservation, the most 
conspicuous being those of Compounds E and F, which could be fol- 
lowed for a considerable distance west of Compound A. These in- 
close low white mounds, sparsely covered with mesquite and other 
growth, which seem to contain the remains of massive buildings, the 
walls of which have fallen or have been worn down by rains to a 
level with the plain. In this vicinity there are numerous other low 
mounds without walls which bear outward resemblance to refuse 
pilec;. 

No excavations were made in these mounds, although there is evi- 
dence that some of them would repay examination. The presence of 



CASA GRANDE RUIN, ARIZONA. 25 

fragments of pottery and broken stone objects, apparently worked by 
hand, suggests sites of many former habitations. 

CLAN-HOUSE 1. 

In addition to the compounds, or structures inclosed by a common 
wall, there is a type of thick-Avalled buildings at Casa Grande from 
which this wall is absent or at least has not yet been discovered. The 
best example of this type is the so-called Clan-House 1. 

Clan-house 1 is 740 feet due east of Compound A. The group of 
rooms brought to light by excavation possibly belonged to a large 
compound the boundary walls of which had been practically buried 
or totally destroyed. Wlien work on Clan-house 1 began, two ash- 
colored, treeless mounds, rising a few feet above the level of the plain, 
were all that was visible, the space between the mounds being covered 
with scattered trees, bushes, and cacti. 

Clan-house 1 has 11 rooms inclosing a plaza, its outside measure- 
ments, exclusive of the annex, being 113 feet long and 49 feet wide. 
The longer walls extend east and west, instead of north and south 
as in the compounds. In addition to the 11 rooms which form the 
main portion of the structures excavated, there are three low-walled 
rooms on the east side, which we may call the annex ; one of the main 
purposes of this structure was to contain the grave of the former 
chief, possibly the owner of the whole building. From various cir- 
cumstances it is believed that the walls of this annex were built later 
than the remainder. The walls of clan house 1 are massive, averag- 
ing 4 feet in thickness; the altitude of the highest is 10 feet. As 
shown in broken sections, these walls were supported in part by up- 
right logs, but were constructed of huge cubes of rammed natural 
cement, in the same way as the walls of Casa Grande. The arrange- 
ment of the 11 rooms composing Clan-house 1 is as follows: On both 
the north and south sides there is a row of rooms the breadth of which 
is about uniform, while the length varies; the room at the east encl of 
each series is the largest. There are five rooms in the series on the 
north and four in the series on the south. To the west of the plaza, 
between these rooms and connecting them on this end, are two rooms, 
which have the highest walls and were apparently the most important 
rooms in Clan-house 1. These rooms occupy about half of the space 
between the north and south series of rooms, the remaining area con- 
sisting of a plaza, or open space, having an entrance from the room 
on the west side. The several rooms in the series on the north side 
do not communicate, nor have they external passageways except in 
tAvo instances ; also, room in the southwest corner communicates with 
a large room at the Avest end of the plaza. In the middle of the cen- 
trally placed of the 11 rooms aboA^e mentioned was found a seat fac- 
ing the south, made of a great block of natural cement. 

It is suggested that Clan-house 1 was a structure similar to Casa 
Grande proper and pertained to the worship of the six primary 
points — north, west, south, east. aboA^e, and below. It is an interest- 
ing fact that the number of rooms in Clan-house 1, excepting the 
annex, is exactly the same as in Casa Grande. In the former, how- 
ever, the 11 rooms are one story in height, whereas in Casa Grande 
there were five rooms in each of tAvo lower stories and one room in 
a third. 



26 CASA GEANDE EUIN, AEIZONA. 

Perhaps the most remarkable of the several rooms in Clan-house 
1 are the two massive-walled inclosures on the north side, which have 
been designated " the annex." One of these seems to have been 
merely an open space surrounded by thick walls formerly higher 
than at present. In this inclosure were found the remains of a 
walled-up cyst of natural cement, one side of which was built con- 
tinuous with the south wall ; the other sides of this cyst, visible from 
the room, were decorated with figures of birds and other animals, 
painted red. 

In the interior of this cyst, or rude sarcophagus was found a human 
skeleton extended at full length with the head directed to the east ; 
near the head was a receptacle for mortuary offerings. From the 
nature of the objects associated with this skeleton and the special 
receptacle apparently made for them, it is supposed that the remains 
were those of an old priest, possibly of a chief, who once occupied 
these rooms. The mortuary objects appear to be priestly parapher- 
nalia, similar to those now used in ceremonies by priests of the 
Pueblo Indians. All the facts gathered show that this burial cham- 
ber was built after the main building was constructed, but its age, 
as compared with that of the other compounds, is unknown. In the 
sand outside the walls were found one or two clay vessels containing 
burnt human bones, covered with clay disks, which are supposed to 
be the partially cremated remains of inhabitants of this building. 
The two methods of disposal of the dead — inhumation and crema- 
tion — were practised in all the compounds of Casa Grande.^ 

It is sometimes stated that the priests of the Gila compounds were 
always buried in houses while the less-favored classes were cremated, 
their calcined bones being deposited in cinerary urns or vases that 
later were buried on the borders of the mounds where they had been 
committed to the flames. While not able to prove or disprove this 
theory, it is believed that the grave of the chief of Clan-house 1 has 
an important bearing on this question. Here, as stated, a man was 
found buried with care in a rude sarcophagus evidently constructed 
for the purpose. A human skelton was also excavated from the 
plaza west of the northeast building of the same compound, at the 
point marked " skeleton " in the ground plan of that compound. 

BEFUSE HEAPS. 

The large structures, especially compounds A, B, and C, are sur- 
rounded by refuse heaps, the surfaces of which are strewn in some 
cases sparingly, in others plentifully, with fragments of pottery and 
with ashes and other evidences of human occupancy. No remains of 
house walls were found in these mounds, and their structure shows 
that they may be regarded as dumping places for the habitations in 
the vicinity. Some of these heaps were thrown up from neighboring 
depressions, or reservoirs, and their stratification indicates that layers 
of earth were deposited on them at different times. A A'ertical sec- 
tion exhibits beds of ashes and other refuse alternating with sand 
and soil, showing how the mounds increased in size.^ 

^At the present day the Pima bury their dead, and the graves of the shamans are differ- 
ent from those of other people. The custom of burning the dead does not now exist 
among these people. 

2 One of the largest of these refuse heaps lies between Compound A and Clan-house 1, 
nearer the former. This mound, which pxtonds about parallel with the east wall of 
Compound A, contains many fragments of pottery. 



CASA GRANDE RUIX, ARIZONA. 27 

Distinct from these are the small mounds or elevations, rising a 
foot or two above the plain, that likev/ise mark man's presence. 
These mounds indicate the former existence of dwellings in the open, 
and it is reasonable to suppose that outside the compounds, espe- 
cially along the irrigation ditches, there were isolated dwellings 
somewhat resembling the modern Pima houses. AMiile these may 
have been shelters used by farmers only while planting or watching 
their crops, they show that the country around the compounds had 
its quota of inhabitants. Within and near the compounds these 
houses may have been very numerous, so closely arranged as to give 
the appearance of a village, in the middle of which rose the great 
communal structure that served as a place of refuge in great emer- 
gencies or for ceremonies when desired. 

A mound situated a short distance east of Compound B was exca- 
vated to the depth of 9 feet. Trenches were dug across it at right 
angles, bisecting the mound east and west, north and south. This 
mound was found to contain fragments of pottery, sticks, charcoal, 
and other refuse ; also the remains of several skeletons, extended at 
length, the skulls of one or two being in fairly good condition. It 
thus appears that the inhabitants of Casa Grande buried some of 
their dead in mounds and others in the floors of houses and plazas. 

RESERVOIRS. 

It has been already mentioned that, scattered over the area occu- 
pied by the Casa Grande Group of ruins, there are several depres- 
sions into which drains from the compounds have been run. The 
largest and deepest of these is found northeast of Compound B. 
These depressions, which have no masonry walls, appear to be the 
places from which was obtained the caliche of which the buildings 
are made. One or two of the depressions are so situated with respect 
to the largest buildings that the adobe of which the houses were built 
may have been carried at times a considerable distance. 

Similar areas inclosed by artificial circular ridges of earth are 
found in several of the clusters of mounds in the Gila and Salt River 
Valleys, among which may be mentioned the one in the group near 
Adanisville and the reservoir at Casa Blanca. The Escalante Group, 
situated near the Phoenix-Florence Railroad, also contains a similar 
reservoir. In the country south of the Southern Pacific Railroad, 
inhabited by a group of Indians of Piman stock called the Qua- 
hatika (Kwahadt), similarly shaped depressions are recorded, some 
of which are still used as reservoirs at certain seasons. This is like- 
wise true of so-called Indian tanks (Pima, vashki), to the east of 
Casa Grande, near the Santa Catalina Mountains, and elsewhere. 

Certain areas marked by no mounds or depressions may have served 
as race courses or dance places, the existence of which is mentioned 
in legendary accounts of Casa Grande. 

On the southwest side of the large reservoir is a depression from 
which were obtained the sand and earth out of which walls were 
made, and a similar depression on the east side may have been due 
to a similar cause. There are depressions in the surface near Clan- 
house 1 and Compound D, and those near the western clan-houses ^ 
served the same purpose. 

1 There are mounds west of Compound A, which are here referred to as " western clan- 
houses," but these were not excavated, although traces of caliche walls were found \n 
them. Potsherds were abundant. 



28 CAS A. GEANDE EUIN, ARIZONA. 

From remains of ancient irrigating ditches in the neighborhood of 
the several compounds it is evident that water from the Gila River 
was conducted over the plain west of Casa Grande. Here and there, 
especially near the large mounds, occur numerous depressions in the 
earth's surface, some of which are possibly reservoirs, or places 
where the water was stored for irrigation, drinking, and other pur- 
poses. Most of these depressions are surrounded by a ridge of earth, 
by which their capacity was increased and the chance of overflow 
diminished. Their prevailing shape is oval. The indications are 
that tliev have been filled to a considerable extent with drifting sand 
since Casa Grande was deserted.^ The largest is situated about mid- 
way of a line extending from the northwest corner of Compound 
A to the southeast corner of Compound C. It was supposed that this 
reservoir was lined with a cement wall, but a section exposed through 
the rim on the south side, which was solid sand throughout, revealed 
no such condition. It is interesting to note that the floor of this 
reservoir is now thickly overgrown with trees and bushes, although 
without water. 

At one end of this reservoir may still be seen a trail along which 
the women toiled Avith water jars from their dwellings near by. The 
shapes of the water jars and certain headrests that have been found 
indicate that the vessels were carried on the head, as at Zuiii, rather 
than on the back as at the Hopi pueblos. There is strong evidence 
that the people of Casa Grande were well supplied with water by 
means of reservoirs and irrigation ditches. This need was not so 
pressing as in northern Arizona. It does not appear from symbolism 
on the pottery or from other evidences, wdiich it must be confessed 
are scanty, that rain ceremonies occupied the prominent place in the 
Avorship of the inhabitants that they do among the present Pueblos. 
The people depended for w-ater less on rain than on the Gila ; the 
river was typified by the plumed serpent, which was Avorshipped. 

There are indications of small mounds in the neighborhood of 
these reservoirs, a fact from which it Avould seem that every reservoir 
had a cluster of habitations around it and that houses were built 
along the courses of the irrigation ditches. Nothing now remains 
to mark these houses except the mounds upon AAdiich are found frag- 
ments of pottery and broken stone implements, including now and 
then a Avell-worn metate. Excavation of one of these mounds re- 
A'ealed a hardened floor surrounded by holes in which are found de- 
cayed stumps of the posts that formerly supported the walls. The 
resemblance of these houses to those noAv built by the Pima and 
Papago Indians is striking. They resemble also the remains of 
rooms of the ancient people in the various compounds of Casa 
Grande. 

mmGATION DITCHES. 

The evidences of prehistoric irrigation in the neighborhood of 
Casa Grande are many, but it is difficult to trace any ditch very far. 
The main canal Avhich supplied the fields Avith Avater extended along 
the left bank of the river, from a point 3 miles higher up ; this was 
probably provided with lateral ditches along its entire length. It 

1 Many of the casas srandes in the Gila-Salt region have similar reservoirs, or circular 
depressions with raised rims. Cushing's excavation of one of these depressions con- 
vinced him that it was not a reservoir, but a ceremonial chamber. 



CASA GRANDE EIJIN, AEIZONA. 29 

approached Casa Grande about midway between Compound B and 
the river, on the north side of the compound, and, extending west- 
ward, turned to the south, sending off smaller branches toward the 
east and west. Although the main ditch can not be traced through- 
out its entire course, traces of it appear at intervals: in some places 
it is clearly marked by walls of earth containing small stones similar 
to those found in stretches of its bed nearer the river. In places the 
canal is 20 feet wide, adequate for carrying a great amount of water. 

The construction of the Casa Grande ditch was not difficult, as the 
earth is not hard to dig and no considerable elevation was encoun- 
tered throughout its entire course. The canal divided probably 
shortly after it left the river, sending a branch that runs east of 
clan house 1 to supply the fields on the east side of the compounds. 
From the point of bifurcation the remains of a smaller canal can be 
traced for some distance. 

As above stated, there is evidence that buildings once stood on the 
banks of these ditches, where their former presence is now indicated 
by low mounds on which are scattered fragments of pottery and a few 
broken stone implements (metates, or grinders). Irrigation ditches 
are more apparent elseAvhere in the Gila and Salt Eiver Valleys than 
at Casa Grande. The settlement near Poston Butte was supplied 
with water by one of the best-preserved of these ancient ditches in 
the Gila-Salt Valley. This follows the right bank of the Gila from a 
point several miles higher up the river and extends to the neighbor- 
hood of the Escalante ruin, where it is lost in laterals or minor 
branches. Near Poston Butte, the southern side of which it skirts, 
the banks of this prehistoric ditch are head high and can be traced 
for many hundred feet without difficulty. An old Mexican who lives 
in Florence stated that when a boy he saw stumps of old logs in this 
ditch at the point where the banks are highest; he believes these were 
remains of a prehistoric head gate. 

In the following quotation H. C. Hodge refers to a prehistoric 
irrigation ditch on the north side of the Gila near Poston Butte :^ 

About 2 miles west of Florence, on the north side of the river, between the 
homes of Mr. Stiles and Mr. Long, is a stretch of hard, stony land, through 
which another of the large irrigating canals was cut. and where, for several 
hundred yards, one can ride on horseback in the canal, which is yet so deep 
one can not look over its banks on either side when sitting on his horse. 

Some of the best irrigating ditches in the Gila-Salt Valley were 
found near Phoenix and Mesa when the country was first entered by 
Americans. That near Mesa was utilized by the Mormon farmers 
who settled this region; others have been filled or destroyed by 
modern agriculture. The lines of many of the new ditches follow 
substantially the lines of the prehistoric canals, showing the skill of 
the primitive farmers. The irrigation ditches in the neighborhood 
of Phoenix have been traced and mapped by Mr. H. R. Patrick.^ 
These can now be traced only at intervals, and in many instances 
nothing remains but ridges of earth or rows of stones. 

It appears from Mr. F. H. Cushing's studies of the irrigation 
ditches ^ near the ruins of Los Muertos, in the Salt River Valley, that 

1 Arizona As It Is; or. The Cominc Country. P- 182, Boston, 1877. 

2 The Ancient Canal Systems and Pueblos of the Salt River Valley, Arizona, Phoenix, 
Ariz, 1903. 

3 See F. W. Hodge, in American Anthropologist, VI, 323, Washington, 1893. 



30 CASA GRANDE RUIN, ARIZONA. 

some parts of these were well preserved. The main ditches were 
large enough for irrigation when full of water and doubtless were 
used for that purpose. Not far from Blackwater is a hill, surrounded 
by a prehistoric ditch above the level of the plain, around which the 
ditch was dug to avoid a too rapid descent. 

The testimony of the old men consulted supports the theory that 
the ancient irrigation ditches were dug by means of wooden shovels 
similar to those mentioned and figured later m this report, the earth 
probably being carried to a distance by the women and children. 
The present Pima say that they now organize to construct irrigation 
ditches in a way somewhat similar to that of the ancients. As all 
clans enjoy the advantage of the water thus obtained, every clan has 
its representatives in constructing the canals, and failure to work 
involves loss of water right, although a clan may be rejDresented by 
members of other clans. The amoimt of labor necessary in the con- 
struction of new ditches is settled in council, in wliich all clans inter- 
ested take part. 

The construction by the ancients of the great irrigation ditches led 
to greater cooperation of labor in the Gila-Salt Valley than anywhere 
else in the prehistoric Southwest. This union of many men under a 
chief, with equal representation in council, led to an advanced social 
organization and culture, a degree of culture which would not have 
been realized so soon under less favorable conditions. This coopera- 
tion and resultant organization made possible also the building of the 
great compounds and the massive structures they inclosed. 

Excavation of one of the banks of an irrigation ditch near Casa 
Grande shoAvs successiA'e layers of soil and small stones, indicating 
repeated clearing out of the canal. The layers of stone may have 
been necessary to prevent the earth washing into the channels. These 
were also continually filling up with mud and detritus from the 
river, the amount of which was considerable when the Gila was 
swollen. The head gates were probably made of posts and brush, 
not unlike the gates constructed at the present day by the Pima and 
the Maricopa. 

Closely connected with the irrigation ditches are the reservoirs 
(vashki)^ of which there are one or more near every large group of 
compounds in the Gila-Salt Basin. These reservoirs are shalloAv 
depressions in which rain water collects, but were not always con- 
nected with the irrigation ditches. Drinking water was probably 
obtained from these and other receptacles. 

METHODS OF DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD. 

Considering the large population that must have lived at Casa 
Grande, it is strange that so few human skeletons have been found. 
There is evidence of two kinds of burial, inhumation in houses and 
mounds, and cremation, an instance of which was discovered not 
far from the north wall of Compound B.^ 

^¥hether or not this difference in the manner of disposal of the 
dead was due to the rank of the deceased is not clearly evident, but 

1 It would appear that a people who burnec) their dead did not believe in a resurrection 
of the body, and the same may be true of those who buried their dead. The placing of 
oflferings in the grave indicates faith in the continuation of life, Jjut does not prove, of 
course, belief in immortality. The practice of burning the dead, which was widespread 
in the Southwest in prehistoric times, was abandoned when the teachings of the mis- 
sionaries were followed. 



CASA GRANDE RUIN, ARIZONA. 31 

the nature of the objects buried with a skeleton in Clan-house 1 
would seem to indicate the grave of a priest. Skeletons unaccom- 
panied by mortuary objects were found in the plazas of Compound 
A and in rooms of the southwest angle, but whether these are ancient 
or modern is not positively known. 

The absence, so far as known, of evidences of cremation from the 
cemeteries of the Little Colorado region, including those of Zuhi, 
and of Sikyatki, Awatobi, and other Hopi ruins, has been used as an 
argument against associating the former inhabitants of these pueblos 
with the Hohokam of the Gila-Salt Basin. Moreover, the Puna do 
not burn their dead, nor have they done so in historic times. It may 
be said in reply to this objection that the Hohokam inhumated as well 
as cremated, thus furnishing a double precedent for their descend- 
ants. Moreover, there is good evidence that cremation was practiced 
in the eastern and northern Pueblo region, at Mesa Verde for in- 
stance. According to Castaheda, the Cibolans ^ burned their dead. 

The human bodies buried in the earth of Casa Grande were laid 
at full length, no remains of an inhumated body in a flexed position 
having been found. It is usual to find in pueblos and cliff dwellings^ 
skeletons buried in both ways. The manner of interment may have 
had in some cases an esoteric meaning, but in most instances it had 
no special significance. 

Several theories have been suggested to account for burial in the 
contracted position. It has been asserted by some authorities that 
the corpse was so disposed to represent the embryonic position. 
According to a second theory the body was deposited in the squat- 
ting position as suggestive of a state of rest. 

1 (Mbola is identified by tbe best atitboritios ns ancient Zufii, but no evidence of crema- 
tion has vet been found in Zufii ruins. 

2 A cliff dwelling is practically a pueblo built in a cave, and what is true of one prob- 
ably holds true for the other, with slight modification. 

o 



WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT FEINTING OFFICE : 1916 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



017 055 728 1 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



017 055 728 1 



